The ice cream shop was packed, three deep at the counter and a crowd milled around waiting for their names to be called so they could retrieve their orders. It was stifling outside with temperatures hovering near ninety degrees. Jason and Pace waited along with the rest of the lucky few inside the air conditioned shop. Tori had the boys outside and Pace could see her through the window trying to fan her face with a napkin. They ran circles around the table she held for them. It was only May, but promised to be the hottest summer on record.
“Your mom looks happy.” Jason shuffled to let another patron through the door.
“Yeah, she does.” Pace glanced back outside the window and watched her grab Mitchell after he almost ran over a toddler with bouncy blonde curls and a dripping waffle cone. “I’m so proud of her for moving on with her life.”
“It only took thirty-eight years and a national scandal.”
“She told me he called and asked her for a date. She said no.”
Jason lifted his brows in surprise. “How long do you think she’ll hold him off?”
If this ordeal had taught Pace anything, it was that her mother was not predictable. “He’s sent her flowers every day since. It doesn’t seem to be having an effect on her.” She stole a glimpse behind the counter to see if anyone was making any sundaes or shakes. The line was getting longer by the minute and the teenage workers seemed like they were goofing off.
“How do you feel about that?”
She stared up at her husband. “Marriage takes work and trust.” She nudged him with her shoulder. They’d learned a thing or two about trust. “They’re my parents and, as much as I hate what he did and especially the way he treated her, a very small and selfish part of me would like to see them together if he could be faithful. But I’m not sure he can and it’s not about what I want.” She snuck a glance out the window and watched Tori throw her head back and laugh at Dillon’s antics. “I don’t think she can ever trust him again. I think she likes the person she is now. I know I do.”
Jason followed her gaze and nodded. “I do, too. She’s a lot easier to take without the attitude. Your dad on the other hand…”
In the months since the scandal had hit, Colin’s attitude toward them had vacillated between indignation and remorse. He still blamed Jason for having to retire his seat. Until he was ready to take full responsibility for the destruction of their family, his marriage, and his career, Pace didn’t have much to say to him. Their relationship, what little was left, was strained and kept her up some nights. “I hope he owns up to his mistakes, but until then…”
She squeaked the last word out as she got knocked in the back. She turned around to see the flushed face of a very pregnant woman. “Sorry.” She rubbed her hand over her belly. “I forget to allow for this extra load sometimes.”
“No problem.” She scooched closer to Jason to give the pregnant woman more room. God knew she remembered what it felt like to be pregnant in the heat of the summer. “When are you due?”
A teenager called “McCalister” over the din of the crowd and a man with three small children rushed forward. “The end of June,” she said as she blew her bangs out of her eyes.
Pace remembered her pregnancy scare. She’d calculated her due date to be the end of June. She watched the girl, sweating, bloated, and ready to pop. God, that could’ve been her. How different would their life have been now if she’d really been pregnant?
A pimply faced boy came forward with another tray of ice cream. “Pace?” he announced to the crowd. Jason tried to muscle his way forward at the same time the pregnant woman next to Pace patted her belly and said, “That’s us.”
Pace watched them both arrive at the counter. “Um, I think you have my order.” She smiled at Jason as he picked up the tray and turned back toward Pace.
“Uh, no.” He looked down at the two kid sundaes they’d ordered for Dillon and Mitchell, the shake he and Pace would split, and the smoothie her mother had requested. “This is ours.”
Her brow furrowed and she twisted back to the teenager who watched raptly, as if he didn’t have three thousand other orders to fill. “Didn’t you say Pace?”
“Yessss…”
She looked back at Jason. “That’s my wife’s name,” he explained.
Pace moved to his side. “Is there a problem?”
The woman laughed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Pace is my last name. I should have said Kelly…I never know which one to give.”
They all laughed it off and Jason and Pace made for the door. Just as the humid air slapped Pace in the face, she was slapped with an outrageous thought. She spun around, squeezed back through the crowd, and tapped the woman on the shoulder. “Your name is Kelly Pace?”
As she nodded her head and smiled quizzically, Pace wondered if the woman could explain everything.
“Who’s your doctor?”
Her brows disappeared under her bangs. “Excuse me?”
“I’m sorry,” Pace stammered. “Your obstetrician. Did you happen to see Dr. Hidel?”
She snorted and wrapped her hands around her belly in what resembled a protective gesture. “Well, I did at first, but he told me I was anemic when I just knew I was pregnant.” She patted her swell. “I was right.”
Anemic. Pace learned all about anemia after being diagnosed when Jason and her mother insisted she go for a physical. The doctor said she’d had it for awhile. She looked up at Jason. He stared at her with a strange look on his face as the tray he carried tipped dangerously to one side.
She reached out and righted the tray just before the shake tipped over and glanced back at Kelly Pace. “Congratulations on your baby.”
As they walked out into the hot sun and passed out ice cream to the kids and her mom, Pace thought about all they’d been through in the last six months. Her parents had separated, her father floundered through retirement without her mom. Tori had been on a few dates—dates!—and she seemed happier, more carefree than Pace had ever seen her. Jason had started his new firm and worked insane hours—hours she would’ve most definitely resented him for if they hadn’t almost lost everything. They made time for each other, had regularly scheduled date nights and organized family outings. Pace knew who her friends were, she knew how strong her marriage was, and she knew not to take anything for granted.
If she could go back and change what had happened, if she’d pressed the doctor to check into the blood test some more or had thought to have them check the appointment book, of course she would have, absolutely she would have headed off the near destruction of her marriage. But from where she sat now, knowing that they all came out of it a little bit smarter, a little bit more grateful for what they’d built, she honestly didn’t know if she would. As Jason slurped the last of the shake they had planned to share and her mother smiled at her over the lip of her smoothie, Pace felt pretty sure she wouldn’t change a thing. Not one little thing.
The End